


Easy As Walking: A Tale of Two Brothers

by finch (afinch)



Category: Burn Notice
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 21:44:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afinch/pseuds/finch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Truth was, he wasn't very good at it, not nearly as good as Michael was, Michael who made it look like it was as easy as walking</p>
            </blockquote>





	Easy As Walking: A Tale of Two Brothers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ambyr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambyr/gifts).



> Takes place pre-series. (and a teeny bit into season one, but not much)  
> Also, there are tiny, vague references to child abuse.

Nate Westen was never as good as his brother. His brother was always the protector, always the one who did what he could for their mother. He was the one who stood in front of their father when he held the belt, and did everything he could to keep Nate from being whipped as well. He was something that Nate tried to be, but never could. Michael was always better, always perfect.

Until the day Michael left home and never came back.

Their father raged. "That boy forged my signature on those ruddy forms! I oughta go find him and-"

"You can't," Nate's mother said calmly, not looking up from her crossword. "He'll be charged with a felony and thrown in prison."

"Prison's where he belongs!"

Nate didn't hear the rest of the fight- he did what he always did when his parents got like this, and sneaked out the bedroom window, sliding down the tiles on the back of the house like it was nothing. Michael had taught him how to do this. Truth was, he wasn't very good at it, not nearly as good as Michael was, Michael who made it look like it was as easy as walking.

His mother placed presents under the tree for Michael that year, and his father only laughed. "Madeline, he's not going to come. He knows what a whipping I'd give him if he did."

But his mother, even more stubborn than Michael [if such a thing was possible] left the presents.

Three days after Christmas, Nate found her in the garage, slowly ripping the paper off and placing each present in the trunk of the car.

"Good thing I saved all those receipts," she said, and that was all she said about it.

By the fifth year, she wasn't placing any presents at all.

When the letters came, they were always addressed to their mother, never mentioned their father, and there was always one line at the bottom, _say hi to Nate for me_. It was a toss-a-way line, something written without much thought. And yet Nate clung to them, smiling when he heard that there had been a letter from Michael and that Michael said hi.

The fact that his mother could do nothing but talk about Michael bothered him, but he was here, and Michael was there, and she always sounded so sad that he never showed up for anything. Sometimes she would sit and write seven page letters to him, always tacking on at the end, _Nate says hi_. It was the only relationship he had with his brother.

Sometimes he wished he had a better relationship. Like the day he dropped out of school and had to tell his mother. Or the day he got caught doing some stupid get rich quick scheme with a buddy of his from school who promised it would make their lives better. Then there was the time he was falsely accused of gang activity.

Those were the times when he'd come home and his mother would lament that he wasn't like Michael. And after those times came the times where he tried his hardest to be like Michael. But he couldn't be Michael. For one, he didn't move nearly as smoothly as Michael seemed to. For two, he was a terrible liar. Michael could tell lies without blinking. For three, he hadn't been combat trained like Michael had.

"You don't have to do what he does," his mother said. "I'll love you no matter what."

Sometime he wished she didn't say that. It made him feel that she only loved him because she had to, not because he was amazing. He was also a bit jealous that Michael- even without coming home ever- was still his mother's favourite and the apple of her eye.

When she told stories at the grocery store about Michael, Nate would add his own addendems, trying to Michael seem not quite so godlike. Most of the time it didn't work. And the times that it did, his mother would hit him and scold, "Why did you say that? Now they'll think Michael's terrible!" Personally, if people thought Michael was terrible, that was okay with him. Michael WAS terrible. Michael ran off, leaving him alone with their father, without any protection at all.

If Michael ever came back, Nate planned on showing him the scars, complete with the stories behind them. That was the one time I got in a fight and lost. That was the one time I was late past curfew. That was the time he was drunk and didn't need a reason. That was the time I talked back to him and told him to go to hell. That was the time I didn't say thank you when he brought two apples home for me and mom. He wanted Michael to feel guilty, to feel like he'd abandoned someone. But Michael was off working for the government- he wasn't allowed to feel guilty for anything.

Then there was the one time where he thought, that maybe if he got into enough trouble, or maybe if their mother died, Michael would be forced to come home. That plan died quickly though, when he realised that Michael didn't care enough about their father, and Nate didn't want to test how much Michael did or didn't care about them.

Needless to say, when Michael finally came home, Nate was elated. That died quickly when Michael got the car, but his big brother, his protector, his hero, was home. Michael, however, did not seem to care too much about that. And only seemed to care about getting back in. He couldn't stand Fiona either, who took his brother away from him and seemed to not care about that either. She was sweet enough with their mother, but she looked at him like a bug, and it made him wonder if Michael saw him that way too- as only a bug on the windshield, easily wiped away.

Maybe, just maybe, something would happen to change Nate's mind- to show him how much his brother cared.

But he doubted that day would ever come.


End file.
